Cooper Hewitt says...
Antonio Giuseppe Basoli is a key figure in the history of stage design, having played a prominent role in defining tastes and practices in nineteenth-century Italian scenography, particularly with regard to the opera. He was born in 1774 in Castelguelfo (Bologna), the son of the painter Lelio Basoli. He studied at the Accademia Clementina, were he was trained by members and protégés of the Gandolfi and Bibiena families, an education connecting him to the legacy of the most notable eighteenth-century Bolognese masters. He spent most of his career in Bologna, where, in 1803, Basoli was named professor of architecture and ornament. He nevertheless produced stage designs for theaters throughout Italy.
Basoli’s work reflects the influence of earlier artists such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi, as well as that of his contemporaries. A notable influence was Alessandro Sanquirico, the preeminent Italian stage designer of the early 19th century and the head designer at La Scala in Milan. Basoli traveled to Milan to study with Sanquirico, who was particularly notable for his innovations with theatrical lighting effects. Basoli eagerly incorporated similar effects into his own practice. During Basoli’s lifetime, his influence was greatly magnified by the proliferation of prints after his designs.
